It is said that Basalt (1910 – ?) was a gender non-conforming person born and raised in Berlin. They studied geology while being part of the city’s vibrant queer scene before escaping the Nazi regime in the 1930s. After years of travelling through Europe, they settled in the Onsernone Valley in Ticino, where they developed a keen ear and relationship to the environment informed by early theories of bioacoustics, psychoacoustics, and ecology. Basalt’s notes revealed a singular methodology of listening — the core principle of their “sonic imprint theory” was the belief that sound leaves measurable traces in the matter it comes into contact with. Consequently, they spent the rest of their life using their body as a sound recording device, cultivating an intimate relationship with rocks, birds, rivers, insects, and human locals — such as fellow trans refugee and poet Gian Alessandro Rapp. Nobody knows exactly what happened to Basalt. It is believed they disappeared in the valley, their body never found. Based on their last written entry, some speculate they morphed into a grasshopper and joined what they called the insect people. Inspired by Basalt’s writings, we followed their aphorisms like a map, listening to the Onsernone Valley and recording the sounds it fostered. As time passed, the landscape unveiled itself differently. Sounds became palpable, the boundaries between us and the world blurred.
Selected writings of Basalt are featured in the CD’s booklet and as a digital PDF with the album. CD+booklet and digital editions available on Vertical Music and forms of minutiae.
Best of Field Recording 2025 – Bandcamp
Featured as yearly highlight in “Sounds of 2025” – BBC Late Junction
“Soundscape composititions from two amazing contemporary sonic novelists. Ultrasonics of birds chants, unbelievable insects transients, wind drones, kicks of rain… everything is orchestrating itself, everything looks familiar and not…” – Kinked, Riforma
Duration: 39:48 — CD + Booklet — Limited Edition of 200
Recorded and composed by Pablo Diserens and Ludwig Berger
Inspired by the life and writings of Basalt (1910–?) — All texts by Basalt
Published by Forms of Minutiae + Vertical Music
FoM 17 + VM16 — 2025
Photographs by Pablo Diserens
Mastered by Mathieu Bonnafous
Design by Nicolas Turki Duchesnay
This project was first presented as a live audiovisual performance at the festival Eventi Letterari Monte Verità’s 2025 “Psychogeography” edition. (photos © Michela Di Savino – Eventi letterari Monte Verità 2025)
Project developed an produced during residencies at Casadirosa in Loco, Ticino
Special thanks to Johannes Rühl
Supported by Kanton Zürich Fachstelle Kultur & Stadt Zürich Kultur